The Importance of Mental Resilience
The Importance of Mental Resilience
Military training is designed to push individuals to their limits physically, mentally, and emotionally. For British Army personnel, especially those attending arduous courses like P Company, Commando Course, or Selection this pressure is not accidental. That's the point. But while physical fitness often gets the spotlight, it's often mental resilience that separates those who pass from those who fall short.
It Doesn’t Matter How Fit You Are, Carrying Weight Still Sucks
One of the clearest examples of this is carrying weight, a seemingly simple but brutally effective test of endurance and mindset. Because no matter how fit you are, carrying heavy weight over long distances hurts. And when it starts to hurt, it’s often your mental strength, not your VO2 max, that keeps you moving.
Of course, your physical conditioning is highly important to give you the base required to complete these tasks but many soldiers enter these challenges with impressive physical conditioning but often their minds fail them before their body. Fitness only gets you so far. You have to learn to be resilient and deal with discomfort over long periods of time.
The Role of Mental Resilience
Mental resilience is essentially our ability to overcome adversity, keep moving forward and not giving up when things get tough but physically and mentally.
It’s Not Weak to Find It Hard
There’s still a stigma in some circles around admitting struggle. But mental resilience isn’t about pretending things don’t hurt, it's about continuing despite the pain.
Unless you're some superhuman, everyone has dark moments during arduous training. The difference is in how you respond. The strongest soldiers aren’t the ones who never deal with adversity, they're the ones who’ve learned how to manage that adversity and keep moving anyway.
Can You Train Mental Resilience?
Absolutely. While some people may naturally cope better under stress, mental resilience can be developed just like physical strength. Some ways to do this include:
Exposure to adversity: The more often you voluntarily put yourself in hard situations, the more familiar discomfort becomes.
Goal setting and purpose: Clear short and long-term goals can keep you focused when your body wants to quit. Also having a clear WHY in your head can allow you to keep going when things get tough.
Reflection: After tough events, ask yourself: What did I learn? What worked? What didn’t? Be honest with yourself. Self-awareness builds resilience.
Final Thought:
Physical conditioning is vital, and will get you to the start line and almost to the end.However, mental resilience is what is going to get you through the dark moments and over that finish line.
“Cognitive, Psychophysiological, and Perceptual Responses to a Repeated Military‑Specific Load Carriage Treadmill Simulation” — Vine et al. (2024)
Flood, A., Keegan, R.J., Vine, S.J., & Wilson, M.R. (2022) Cognitive resilience to psychological stress in military personnel. Frontiers in Psychology (PMC)
University of Plymouth. (2021) Imagery Training: Helping soldiers find their grit (PCPT / FIT intervention). University of Plymouth
